Summary

Iron prophylaxis in suckling piglets is usually administered as intramuscular or subcutaneous injection. These formulations are medicinal products and therefore prescribable in organic producing farms. Although iron dextran is not allowed through the EU Regulation 834/07 there are no restrictions about medicinal products. Used as feed additive iron dextran is prohibited. Oral administration of iron pastes is common in some organic farms. This paper deals with oral administration of iron pastes containing only approved feed additives like iron oxid or iron sulfate. 22 litters were included. Piglets were randomised and assigned to either control or experimental group. With the exception of a commercial paste given two times (day 1 and 7) none of the experimental pastes could achieve satisfactory results. Either the serum iron level decreased considerably or the piglets became pale and weight gain decreased. In summary under the restriction of the EU regulation 834/07 sufficient oral supplementation with iron is not possible. The only acceptable possibility is an intramuscular or subcutaneous administration of 200 mg of iron dextran at the second or third day of life.